The present invention relates to an improvement in paper discharge apparatuses for use in issuing apparatuses for issuing receipts, tickets, etc., using rolls of paper, for cutting and discharging printed slips, and for collecting discharged slips when they are not removed.
Automatic transaction machines such as cash dispensers, ATMs, information terminal apparatuses, etc., have been conventionally installed in unmanned shops, and these machines are provided with an issuing apparatus for issuing receipts or tickets on which necessary information is printed so as to report transaction information for a customer. As a method of printing in an issuing apparatus, thermal methods, dot impact methods, or the like are used. A roll of paper is unwound, necessary information is printed thereon, and a printed portion is cut by a paper cutting mechanism, whereby a receipt or a ticket is issued.
In a conventional issuing apparatus, paper is conveyed to a discharge port and is printed one line at a time, and the issuing paper is gradually discharged from the discharge port. Therefore, when a customer stands by while picking up the issuing paper, the paper is prevented from being conveyed, whereby it is warped in a loop-like state, and a paper jam is caused. When the customer picks up and pulls out the issuing slip of paper, the printing or cutting quality thereof is inferior, or a cutter blade in a cutting mechanism may be damaged, depending on the circumstances. In the case in which a customer leaves without receiving the issued slip of paper, there may be some problems such as the next issuance of a slip of paper is obstructed, or another customer may take the slip of paper whereby secret information thereon cannot be kept confidential.
Therefore, in order to solve the above problems, the present inventors developed a paper discharge apparatus which is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 8(96)-268638. According to this paper discharge apparatus, a leading end of a issuing slip of paper is clamped by a pair of paper discharge rollers so as not to be discharged from the discharge port, and the paper is held in a loop-like state in an issuing apparatus until the printing and cutting operations are completed. In the paper discharge apparatus, the slip of paper is discharged from the discharge port after the printing and cutting operations are completed, and furthermore, the paper is retracted into the apparatus if a customer leaves it for a given period, whereby the above problems caused by an inadvertent action of the customer can be solved.
However, in the above paper discharge apparatus according to development by the present inventors, it is constructed such that a bottom portion of a paper conveyor passage which extends between a cutting mechanism and a pair of discharge rollers is opened so as to bend the slip of paper downward. The paper is thereby not at all restricted by the opened bottom portion in the paper conveyor passage. However, in order to reliably issue a slip of paper in a nearly unattended situation in which the apparatus is provided in an automatic transaction machine and to reliably collect a remaining slip of paper, there are the following problems even if the above paper discharge apparatus is employed.
That is, the automatic transaction machine may be installed in various places which may be outdoors or indoors, and it is also may be used under conditions of high temperature and high humidity, depending on the circumstances. In the case in which it is used under such adverse conditions, the paper may be weakened by absorbing moisture and curl in the shapes of the paper conveyor passage, guide rollers, etc. Alternatively, paper may be caused to have wavelike wrinkles at a leading end thereof and be bent so that both ends of a cut slip of paper hang down. In particular, when a thermal paper, on which a coating material is coated thereon, was originally a soft paper, such phenomena are apparent.
When paper weakens and the leading end thereof hangs down, the leading end does not reach a guide plate which is provided in front of a pair of discharge rollers. In this case, the paper is not discharged and drops into a collection tray which is provided in an issuing apparatus. When curls or wrinkles are caused in a paper, even if a leading end of the paper reaches a pair of discharge rollers, the paper cannot be clamped between the pair of discharge rollers, thereby causing a paper jam. When the winding diameter of a roll of paper is very small, the paper strongly curls, whereby the paper cannot be clamped between the pair of discharge rollers.
When a remaining paper is collected, there may be the following problems. For example, in a printing device, an electrical charge is stored on a surface of a paper as a static electrical charge. In particular, this phenomenon is apparent under low humidity conditions. In this case, the collected paper adheres to a plastic guide plate or other portions by static electrical charge, whereby the paper blocks a paper collecting passage and cannot be collected. When the winding diameter of a roll of paper is very small, the paper strongly curls, whereby the paper causes a blockage and obstructs the paper collecting passage.
Furthermore, when a pair of discharge rollers is provided on both surfaces of a paper, as shown in FIG. 14, the center of the paper in the cross direction bends, whereby it becomes more rigid along the longitudial direction. In such a case, when a leading end of the paper contacts an inner wall of an issuing apparatus, an excessive load is caused at a pair of discharge rollers, whereby a motor is continuously rotated while operating a torque limiter, so that a control error is caused.
A customer often inserts a card or a coin into a paper discharge port by mistake. In this case, there is a problem in that a paper discharge passage and a discharge port may be obstructed, preventing a receipt, etc., from being issued. Furthermore, it is desirable that the apparatus be improved so that the taking of a receipt, etc., will be forgotten as rarely as possible.
Therefore, the present invention was made in view of the above-described circumstances, and it is an object thereof to provide a paper discharge apparatus which can securely prevent paper jams and paper retention from occurring so that paper issuing and collecting operations can be reliably performed, and moreover, which can prevent some problems from occurring even if a user performs various operations incorrectly.
In a first aspect of the present invention, a paper discharge apparatus comprises: a paper printing device for printing on a paper; a paper conveyor device for conveying the paper to the paper printing device; a paper cutting device disposed downstream of the paper printing device for cutting the paper when a printing operation is completed; a pair of discharge rollers disposed downstream of the paper cutting device for conveying the paper toward a paper discharge port, the pair of discharge rollers clamping a leading end of the paper until the printing operation is completed so as to bend the paper downward to form a loop between the paper cutting device and the pair of discharge rollers, conveying the paper downstream until a trailing end of the paper leaves off the paper cutting device, and conveying the paper upstream to collect the paper which is discharged at the paper discharge port and not removed; and a paper sensing device provided near the paper discharge port. Furthermore, the present invention is characterized by comprising a paper guide device is provided along both surfaces of the paper between the paper cutting device and the pair of discharge rollers, having a movable guide member which is adapted to open the bottom of a paper conveyor passage extending from the paper cutting device to the pair of discharge rollers at least when the paper is bent downward to form a loop.
According to the paper discharge apparatus as constructed above, the movable guide member opens the bottom of the paper conveyor passage, whereby the paper can be bent downward by clamping a leading end of the paper between the pair of discharge rollers until the printing and cutting operations are completed. Therefore, an inadvertent action of a customer can be prevented, and moreover, a collected slip of paper can be dropped at a given place. In particular, according to the present invention, since the bottom of the paper conveyor passage which extends from the cut device to the pair of discharge rollers can be closed when the paper is conveyed to the pair of discharge rollers, the paper can be securely clamped between the pair of discharge rollers by guiding the paper using a guide device even if the paper curls strongly, wrinkles, or weakens.
Here, the movable guide member is inclinably supported at an upstream end thereof so as to move between a first position in which the guide member extends along the paper and a second position in which the guide member inclines downward, and a downstream free end of the guide device can be inclined so as to release the paper to be collected. The collected paper thereby does not obstruct the paper collecting passage due to static electrical charge or curling, so that the paper collecting operation can be securely performed.
As another device for smoothly collecting the paper, a paper receiving member extending downward from the upstream end thereof when the movable guide member is located at the first position, which bends by contacting a trailing end of the paper to be collected, and which thrusts downward the trailing end of the paper, can be provided. According to such a construction, when the trailing end of the paper bent upward at the center thereof in the cross direction contacts the paper receiving member, the paper receiving member bends backward to escape, whereby the trailing end of the paper is turned downward and becomes softer. Consequently, an excessive load given to the pair of discharge rollers can be effectively prevented from occurring. It is preferable that the paper receiving members be provided at two points on both surfaces of the paper in the cross direction. In such a construction, the end of the paper is firstly bent at a corner which is easily bent.
Furthermore, it is preferable that a paper thrusting member be provided at a downstream free end of the movable guide member, in which the paper thrusting member protrudes upward from the free end to the downstream of the movable guide member, reaches a side surface of an upper discharge roller of the pair of discharge rollers when the movable guide member is located at the first position, and the paper is passed so that it bends downward when the paper is discharged. In this construction, since the paper thrusting member is located at a side surface of the discharge roller, it does not interfered with the discharge roller. Therefore, the paper thrusting member does not prevent the discharge roller from rotating when the paper is collected, and moreover, the paper thrusting member extends in the vicinity of a clamping portion of the pair of discharge rollers, whereby the paper is restrained until the pair of discharge rollers clamps it; the paper can then be securely clamped between the pair of discharge rollers even if a leading end of the paper curls to a great extent. In addition, according to this construction, there is also an advantage in that the collected paper is not inserted into a paper conveyor passage above the movable guide member even if a trailing end (upstream end) of the collected paper curls strongly upward.
A shutter is provided on the movable guide member by way of a connecting device, and is constructed for opening and closing the discharge port in association with the inclination of the movable guide member, whereby a foreign material such as a card, a coin, etc., can be effectively prevented from being inserted into the discharge port.
In a second aspect of the present invention, a paper guide device is provided downstream of the pair of discharge rollers along both surfaces of the paper, instead of the above paper guide device, and the paper guide device is constructed so that a paper feeding angle at a conveying portion of the pair of discharge rollers is different from that at a discharging portion facing the discharge port. Such a construction can be also provided in the above-described first aspect of the present invention.
According to such a paper discharge apparatus, since paper feeding angles in the paper guide device are different, even if a foreign material such as a card, etc., is inserted into the discharge port, it is blocked by the paper guide device and is thereby not inserted further therein. Therefore, the recipient can see that an operation is incorrect and pull out the card, etc., thereby performing the operation correctly.
In a third aspect of the present invention, a pair of second discharge rollers facing the discharge port is provided downstream of a pair of first discharge rollers, instead of the guide device of the second paper discharge device. This pair of second discharge rollers clamps a trailing end of the paper until the paper discharged from the discharge port is removed and conveyed the paper upstream toward the pair of first discharge rollers when the paper remains for a given period, thereby collecting the paper. Such a construction can be also provided in the above-described first or second aspect of the present invention.
According to such a paper discharge apparatus, most of the paper can be exposed even if the length of the paper is short, whereby attention of the user can be drawn to the paper and the paper P can prevented from being forgotten. In this case, the pair of second discharge rollers is rotated so as to convey the paper upstream to a position at which the paper sensing device can detect the paper when a given period elapses after the paper is discharged at the discharge port. The paper can thereby be collected when the paper sensing device detects the paper.
Furthermore, the pair of second discharge rollers is rotated to convey the paper upstream to a position at which the paper sensing device can detect the paper after the paper is discharged at the discharge port. The paper can thereby be also collected when the paper is continuously detected for a given period by the paper sensing device. In this case, since it can be always determined by the paper sensing device whether or not the paper is present, the next operation can be started without waiting for a given period after receiving the paper.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, common tangents of the pair of first discharge rollers and the pair of second discharge rollers in the above-described third aspect are inclined with respect to each other. According to such a construction, even if a foreign material such as a card, etc., is inserted into the discharge port, it is blocked by the pair of first discharge rollers or other members so that it is not inserted further therein, and so that the user can see that the operation is incorrect.